Young Reds dig deep in an eight goal thriller

On Friday Night Adelaide United overcame a strong pressing Cumberland United side in a thriller that ended 5-3 at the Elite Systems Football Centre.

In the first half Cumberland United applied the pressure early, hoping to catch the Young Reds side off guard in a frantically paced match.

And the pressure paid off. In the sixth minute Benjamin Eustance-Smith scored the opener after following through with his run. Red’s keeper Daniel Margush put a glove on Jace Cummins shot but palmed onto the post before the striker scored.

And for the first 10 minutes Cumberland saw the majority of the chances as Adelaide still looked to find their feet, which they did. And as they found their feet momentum started to gather the way of the Red’s.

And in the 28th minute League goal scoring leader, Doni Pollock found the equalizer. After a dazzling run through the midfield by Smith, his pass found the striker who took a touch to compose, before placing the ball in the bottom left corner.

And within ten minutes Adelaide had the lead after a reckless challenge on Pollock in the box. Dylan Smith then went to the spot, calmly passing it into the net, sending the keeper the wrong way.

But in the dying minutes a lapse saw the scores level once again. After a poor pass in midfield, Cumberland quickly broke forward sending Harley Gepp on a run who side stepped goal keeper David Margush, who was rushing off his line, before placing it into an open net.

Just a few minutes into the second half another mix up, this time at the back, saw Cumberland regain their lead.

A back pass just wide of Margush proved costly. Just pushing off his toe, Cumberland’s Thomas Parks beat the keeper back to the goal line scoring their third.

But it would be the Red’s who would finish the stronger of the two, scoring two goals within five minutes to once again have the lead.

Dylan Smith equalized in the 60th minute after his shot from 20 yards deflected off defender Cohan Morris, sending the keeper the wrong way, before Antoni Trimboli scored a wonderstrike to take the lead.

The Winger found space to cut in from the left wing and from 22 yards out unleashed the ball, curling into the top right corner of the net.

And once Cumberland went down to ten men after substitute Jordan Pegoraro was forced off after breaking his arm, Adelaide dominated possession.

With only minutes remaining Thomas Love sealed the game. With space in front to run, he sprinted into the box pushing the ball past the defender and sending the ball just inside the right post, under the hand of Luke Schoen.

“Some of the goals we conceded (was) playing out from the back. But I don’t care because that’s part of the style we end up playing out and we score goals, Said Coach Michael Valkanis.

“The boys have played a lot of games, and to play out the second half the way they did, and to play the sort of football that they did that’s what I want to see; a lot of attacking and a lot of scoring.

“All we said at half time was simple. We play attacking football, so what’s the objective? To win. If they score 3 we have to score four, if they score four we have to score five.”

And Winger Antoni Trimboli, who scored the goal to give them lead in the second half was just happy to get the result.

“Cumberland are a really good team, they pressed really high in the first half (and) second half.

“We weren’t so happy at half time, being so close to half time conceding again, (then) coming back out and conceding quite softly. So to give us that goal, to give us that bumper was good.

“The message was head up, stay focused and despite they did go down to ten men, stay focused.”